It was almost a week ago that Nintendo announced its Virtual Console will be warping from 3DS to Wii U during a number of upcoming power-ups to the company’s latest entertainment system. Offering a throw-back to the classic days of 8 and 16-bit gaming and celebrating the 30th anniversary of its first home console, the NES, Nintendo will be rolling out a selection of discounted classics downloadable from the e-Shop to the Wii U starting right now.

As mentioned, the Virtual Console is already available on Nintendo’s current portable, the 3DS, and allows nostalgic gamers to reconnect with legendary franchises such as Zelda and Super Mario Bros. as they appeared in the mid-to-late 80s, complete with all the retro visuals and synthesized soundtracks.

Gadget Helpline reported previously that the Virtual Console can be snapped up for an introductory price of 99p for the NES (usually £3.49) and £1.49 for the SNES (usually £5.49) and we can update this info today as Nintendo has just revealed a ‘Trial Campaign’ which will re-introduce a number of games first seen on these platforms. These 30th Anniversary games will cost just 30p and will be available for a limited time of 30 days and will be released over the next few months (we see a pattern here!)

First up and available now we see Balloon Flight take to the skies after being first seen on NES in 1984. This game will be available for the discounted fee until February 21st. Following that, F-Zero (SNES) will be racing back in at a bargain price from February 20th to March 21st. March 20th will see Punch-Out! (NES) returning to the ring until April 18th and Kirby’s Adventure (NES) arrives on April 17th through to May 16th.

Super Metroid (SNES) blasts off on May 15th – June 13th with Yoshi (NES) hatching June 12th – July 11th and then on July 15th, barrel-busting ape Donkey Kong (NES) returns until August 13th featuring the first ever appearance of Nintendo’s main man Mario, before he got Super and started off on legendary adventures of his own!

This is a great selection of games which the Gadget Helpline thinks is not to be missed and with the benefit of the Wii U’s dual gaming surfaces you can even play these games in their full glory on a big screen or take them on the move anywhere within range of the console using the GamePad as a portable play area!

For more details on Nintendo’s Virtual Console and Trial Campaign on Wii U check out the official website.